Electronic cigarette pack with living hinge

ABSTRACT

The disclosure provides a single piece electronic cigarette pack that comprises a living hinge.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to an electronic cigarette pack, and more particularly, an electronic cigarette pack with a living hinge.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Electronic cigarettes are a popular alternative to traditional tobacco based cigarettes that must be burned in order to generate smoke for inhalation. Electronic cigarettes provide a vapor for inhalation, but do not contain certain byproducts of combustion that may be harmful to human health. Electronic cigarettes are frequently provided in or with a cigarette pack (or case) that uses at least four parts, including a lid, a base housing, and two or more pins that are pressed through holes formed in the lid and housing to create a hinge.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a current state of the art electronic cigarette pack, which includes four parts, including a lid, a base housing, and two pins that pivotally connect the lid to the base housing. The current state of the art pack design, which relies on pins inserted into holes, is prone to breakage when it is dropped or sat on, since the pins present a common failure point during these types of events.

U.S. Pat. No. D613,903 to Jianyong Wu shows another example of an electronic cigarette pack.

Current state of the art electronic cigarette packs require a relatively labor-intensive assembly process that impacts the cost of production. The present disclosure provides a novel electronic cigarette pack with living hinge design that eliminates the costly assembly process, including the likelihood of mal-assembly, while reducing manufacturing costs and timelines. The present disclosure also provides a pack design that is resistant to breakage when, for example, the pack is dropped. The pack includes a living hinge that distributes stresses, thereby reducing a likelihood of breakage during events, such as, dropping of the pack to the floor.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a living hinge is incorporated into the electronic cigarette pack to provide a single piece structure. A hinge is formed at the union of the lid portion and the main body portion of the pack. The hinge is formed by shaping the geometry and injection molding process parameters. The geometry is designed such that a thin web of material is created at the union of the lid and the main body. The nominal wall thickness of the lid and the main body are large relative to the thickness of the web. By way of example, the nominal wall thickness of the main body and lid may be 2.0 mm, whereas the thickness of the web is in the range of 0.20 mm to 0.75 mm. The geometry of the transition from the nominal wall thickness to the web may be contoured so as to promote a smooth flow of molten plastic across the hinge during the molding process. Injection gate location may be placed such that the molten plastic flows uniformly through the hinge during the molding processes. This may be important in order to ensure that no stress concentrations are formed in the hinge area. Also important to the performance of the hinge is the selection of plastic material. Certain plastics such as, for example, polypropylene and high density polyethylene demonstrate high fatigue resistance and are thus suitable for living hinge designs. The hinge should be kept thin enough to allow for easy opening and closing of the lid. However, in order to promote tear resistance, the hinge may be locally thickened at its edges in order to better resist tear initiation without a significant increase in hinge operation force.

Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the disclosure may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the detailed description and drawings. Moreover, it is to be understood that the foregoing summary of the disclosure and the following detailed description and drawings are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the disclosure as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and together with the detailed description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. No attempt is made to show structural details of the disclosure in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosure and the various ways in which it may be practiced. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a current state of the art electronic cigarette pack;

FIG. 2 shows an example of an electronic cigarette pack that is constructed according to the principles of the disclosure; and

FIG. 3 shows a close-up view of a hinge section of the electronic cigarette pack shown in FIG. 2.

The present disclosure is further described in the detailed description that follows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments and examples that are described and/or illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and features of one embodiment may be employed with other embodiments, even if not explicitly stated herein. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques may be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments of the disclosure. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the disclosure may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments herein should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, it is noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

The terms “including,” “comprising,” and variations thereof, as used in this disclosure, mean “including, but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a,” “an,” and “the,” as used in this disclosure, means “one or more,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

Although process or method steps, or the like, may be described in a sequential order, such processes or methods may be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of the processes or methods described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single device or article may be used in place of the more than one device or article. The functionality or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality or features.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an electronic cigarette pack that is constructed according to the principles of the disclosure. As seen, the electronic cigarette pack comprises a living hinge that is incorporated into the electronic cigarette pack to provide a single piece structure. The hinge is formed at the union of the lid portion and the main body portion of the pack. The hinge may be formed by shaping the geometry and injection molding process parameters. The geometry may be designed such that a thin web of material is created at the union of the lid and the main body. The nominal wall thickness of the lid and the main body are large relative to the thickness of the web. By way of example, the nominal wall thickness of the main body and lid may be 2.0 mm, whereas the thickness of the web is in the range of 0.20 mm to 0.75 mm.

The electronic cigarette pack may include one or more electrical connections (not shown) to charge one or more electronic cigarettes that may be contained in the pack. The pack may further include a connector that is configured to receive power from an external power supply. The pack may further include a battery, which may be configured to be rechargeable.

The geometry of the transition from the nominal wall thickness to the web may be contoured so as to promote a smooth flow of molten plastic across the hinge during the molding process.

During molding, an injection gate location (not shown) may be placed such that the molten plastic flows uniformly through the hinge during the molding processes. This may be important in order to ensure that no stress concentrations are formed in the hinge area.

Also important to the performance of the hinge is the selection of plastic material. Certain plastics such as, for example, polypropylene and high density polyethylene demonstrate high fatigue resistance and are thus suitable for living hinge designs. The hinge should be kept thin enough to allow for easy opening and closing of the lid. However, in order to promote tear resistance, the hinge may be locally thickened at its edges in order to better resist tear initiation without a significant increase in hinge operation force.

The pack of the present disclosure includes a living hinge that allows for part count reduction by combining the function of four or more discrete parts into a single part. This part count reduction results in a simpler assembly process. By making assembly simpler, the device can be manufactured at a lower cost and at a higher level of quality. The living hinge can also be made to be stronger than an equivalently sized “hole and pin” system. This results in a more durable end product.

FIG. 3 shows a close-up view of the living hinge section of the electronic cigarette pack, constructed according to the principles of the disclosure.

As an alternative to the pack shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a pack may be constructed using a two-part construction (not shown), which includes a first part comprising a portion (e.g., a half) of a hinge that is molded into a lid, and a second part comprising another portion of the hinge that is molded into the main body. The hinge may be complete when the two parts are snapped together during assembly.

Another alternative design may include a two-part construction that uses a magnetic hinge between the lid and body (not shown).

While the disclosure has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure can be practiced with modifications in the spirit and scope of the appended claims. These examples are merely illustrative and are not meant to be an exhaustive list of all possible designs, embodiments, applications or modifications of the disclosure. 

What is claimed:
 1. An electronic cigarette pack as described herein.
 2. A method of manufacturing an electronic cigarette pack as described herein. 